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Storm brings Seattle retail to a halt

Published January 20, 2012

SEATTLE, WA (BRAIN) Jan 20, 17:04 MT — A huge snow-rain-and-ice storm that hit the Seattle area this week, leaving as many as 250,000 people without power, has brought bike retail sales to a near halt.

Gregg's Cycle, an 80-year-old shop with three locations, closed early Tuesday and has not re-opened as of Friday afternoon.

J&B Importers' Seattle location has remained open. Assistant facilities manager Jim Miller said the power outages have caused the biggest disruptions among the retailers in the city.

"Most of the shops did stay open, and we remained open the whole time. It has been hard for UPS and the courier services to make deliveries," Miller said.

BikeSport, in Seattle's Ballard district, closed on Wednesday and closed early on Thursday because of lack of business, said service manager Travis Buck.

"We've had a total of five customers in six hours today," Buck said.

Buck commuted by bike to work this week, enjoying hardpacked snow for the five or six-mile trip Thursday, but struggling through slush and slop Friday. "I crashed once and almost crashed another time. They don't plow the side streets so they have treacherous ruts," he said.

Play It Again Sports downtown has remained open all week, serving its winter sport customers. There's been little or no bike activity this week, said manager Brandon Pendergast.

"The bike commuters have been pretty quiet," Pendergast said. "We did have one guy come in looking for some tune-up help."